If you feel that you've lost the spark in photography, despair not. There are dozens of ways to make photography fun again. Try out new techniques and redo some of the stuff you did before, and you'll see the changes in your perspective now and before. It need not be something expensive. This article will explore medium format photography at a budget.

China is not known for precision equipment like cameras. But one of the few cameras she made became a hot seller throughout the world. The Seagull Twins Lens Reflex (TLR) is one of the cheapest medium format camera available. For those enthusiasts wishing to try out medium format, or those looking for something new in photography, you can buy a new Seagull TLR for around S$130.
 
 

© Nelson Tan 1996

Introduction to TLRs Twin-lens reflex (TLR) cameras have two lenses, as denoted by their name. The top lens is the viewing lens, and the bottom lens is the taking lens. The viewing lens contains a reflex mirror behind it, which enables the view to be reflected upward to a ground screen which you peer into. The taking lens is the lens which contains the shutter, and it is the one which ultimately takes the picture. Due to the nature of the construction using two lenses, you will not see a blackout when you press the shutter. And because it uses a leaf-shutter, there is no mirror slap and thus the vibration is very little. However, you will need to compensate for parallax error if the subject is very close to the lens. The camera uses medium format film, also known as 120 format. Our usual Nikons, Canons and Minoltas uses the 35mm film format. For the Seagull, you will need to go to the bigger photo shops and ask for 120 format films. It costs around S$5, and will provide you with 12 exposures on the Seagull. Processing will cost around S$12 for 12 4S prints. Again, only the bigger and more professional labs offer such processing. Medium format photography offers a much bigger negative size to begin with. It is nearly 300% bigger than our usual 35mm format. As a result, we need not enlarge the same negative as much compared to the 35mm to get a similar size enlargement. This will give us prints which are much finer in grain and offer more tonality.

How fun is it ?

How will this cheap Chinese camera provide you fun ? First of all, it looks pretty retro. You can be sure people will take note of you when you whip out this camera. Pretty eye-catching, especially girls will comment on how "cute" it looks. Remember the Sovil et Titus advertisement starring Chow Yun Fatt as a Chinese pilot who took a picture with his girlfriend before he flew on his final mission? He probably used a Seagull. Secondly, if you have only used 35mm cameras with prism finders, this camera will drive you nuts with its uncorrected image. Pan to the right with the camera, and the image moves left, and vice-versa. A real good comedy when you watch inexperienced photographer friends try to use it ! After a few hours with the camera, you should be able to figure out the way it sees. Thirdly, for those of you whom have used nothing but the 35mm rectangular format, you'll be in for a surprise. The square format of this camera will force you to compose your photos in a whole new way. It gives you perspectives to think about your composition. And finally, if you manage to capture great photographs in spite of all the obstacles you face, do spend some money to enlarge the image. Get ready… the lack of grain and the rich tonality will blow all your 35mm images away.
 

The first encounter

The Seagull comes in a box with a leather case and instruction manual. The leather case is pathetic. It is stiff, and it stinks. I threw mine away the moment I took it out of the box. The camera comes with a lens cap, and feels pretty substantial. It is mainly metal and feels moderately well-built. The lens are both coated (multi-coating I think), and the settings are quite smooth. The instruction manual is a folded piece of paper, and shows you how to use the camera. It is quite complete, from loading the film to shooting, and finally unloading of the film. Read the instructions carefully before you do anything, especially if you've never handled 120mm film before.

Using the camera is quite straightforward. In fact, it takes only 30 minutes to master the camera if you know how to use any manual camera. It is a simple camera, and other than the film loading mechanism, there is only the shutter, aperture and focusing controls ! I loaded mine correctly the first time round. No fuss at all.
 

Metering woes

The camera does not have built in light meter. In order to get the correct exposure, you could use the Sunny-16 rule if you're really good at judging light. Most people can't, so you can use a hand-held light meter if you already have one. Or you can bring along your 35mm camera with a 50mm lens. If you have a zoom lens, set it to 50mm to correspond to the field of view of the Seagull camera. Take a meter reading, either with your hand-held meter or 35mm camera meter, and transfer the readings to the Seagull manually. This is more tedious than using your 35mm camera, but it trains you to be more alert to light.
 

Results

The results of the camera is surprisingly good, considering the camera costs only S$130. It is very sharp across the frame and shows little distortion. The colours rendered by the lens is also quite neutral. My other friend who bought one on my recommendation found the same results too. But you have to bear with some dirt on the lens. The lens is prone to internal dirt after some time, but it does not seem to appear on the final image.

Sounds interesting ? Try it!! I guarantee you'll like it.
 
 
 

Reader Paul Chuah adds the following comments:

Point about parallax error. All Seagull TLRs, except for the 4B-1, has the parallax corrected to the nearest focusing distance by a moving mask underneath the focusing screen. The mask moves as you focus, masking out the correct frame for the given distance. Since the camera has no macro facility, there's nothing to worry about the missing top of the picture. This device is copied from the post war version Rolleiflex and Rolleicord.

Surprising as it may seem, these old cameras are well thought of instruments used by scientist in the study of microscopic subjects and waveform observations on the Phillips Oscilloscope 30 plus years ago.

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